The 5th PRMC meeting of the Indian Science, Technology and Engineering Facilities Map (I-STEM) was successfully convened on 28th April 2026 at the I-STEM Office, Bengaluru, under the guidance of Dr (Mrs.) Parvinder Maini, Scientific Secretary, Office of PSA. The meeting was chaired by Dr. Dinkar Kanjilal, Former Director, Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC) and DAE Raja Ramanna Fellow, and was attended by esteemed PRMC members, including Dr. S S Kohli, Former Scientist 'G', DST; Dr. Rajni Kant Srivastava, Scientist 'G' and Head, Research & Management Policy, Planning and Coordination (RMPPC) Cell, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Headquarters; Dr. Dr. Rajendra Prasad Singh, Chief Scientist and First Appellate Authority, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Headquarters; Shiv Kumar, former Director ER & IPR, DRDO, Ministry of Defence, Govt. of India Headquarters. Dr.Vishal Choudhary, Scientist 'F'; Dr. Santhosh S.Nair, Ph.D, sMBA, Scientist 'D'; Dr. Shefali Uttam, Technical Staff, were also present in the meeting. The deliberations focused on strengthening mission alignment, expanding outreach, and enhancing platform utilisation of I-STEM as a national digital infrastructure for research. Key recommendations focused on strengthening capacity-building efforts, including operator training workshops and technical webinars, to enhance awareness among researchers, facility managers, and institutions. The Committee also highlighted the need to expand adoption in underrepresented regions, particularly the North-East. In addition, the Committee emphasised leveraging collaboration with S&T Clusters as regional nodal entities to enhance local engagement, improve visibility, and drive greater platform utilisation. To extend the benefits of I-STEM to state universities and institutions, it was further suggested to engage with State Governments to facilitate its integration into their research and innovation ecosystems. I-STEM continues to play a pivotal role in democratising access to advanced scientific infrastructure, particularly for Tier-2 and Tier-3 institutions, by enabling discovery and shared use of high-end facilities. The platform today integrates over 30,000 scientific instruments across more than 3,800 institutions, spanning 14 ministries and departments, with over 58,000 registered users from academia, industry, and startups. By addressing challenges of infrastructure fragmentation, underutilisation, and duplication, I-STEM is building a transparent, interoperable, and scalable ecosystem that accelerates research, innovation, and technology development across the country. Indian Science Technology and Engineering facilities Map (I-STEM) Official